Grain blower



J. F. VALLENTYNE, DECD. E. VALLENTYNE. ADMINISTR'ATMX.

GRAIN BLOWER.

' APPLICATION msn APR. 12. 192|. 1 ,412,031. Pvbtnted Apr. 4, 1922.

i iaiaoeii4 Y JOHN r. VALLENTYNE, or MINNEAPOLIS,

MINNESOTA; EMILY VALLENTYN l AnMINIsTRATRIX or SAID IonNrgvALLnNTYNE, nnonesnn.

' GRAIN BLOWER.

Applicationmea April 12,

,To all .207mm tmay confiera.'

Be it known that I, JQHN F.y VLLNTYNE a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in thecounty of Hennepin land State Aof Minnesota, have invented certain new yand jnseful Improvements in Grain TVBlowers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,

tion of the invention, such as will" enable fstruct such others skilled in the. vart to-whichit 'apper- .tains to make and use the same. -I

This invention relates t0 a -pneumatic 4clevatorifor grain'A ora grain Iblowen Y Y K Itis lan object 'on this invention to co n a ,blower provided with a grain delivery conduitinto which the grain is evenly fed from above and whichfeeding of the grain is effected and facilitatedby the air blast. Y Y Y It is a further objectof the-invention to provide such a blower having a graindelivery conduit and a grain chamber l grain. delivery conduit is avoided since,

disposed over the same Vand delivery thereto7 with 1a meansV for feeding grain into said chamber. The latter means is provided with .a friction drive adapted to be operated by a governor attached to theusual fan orblower.

W ith this construction, the chokingiof the any tendencyto choke occurs, the'feeding 4means delivering grain into the grain' delivery chamber will cease to be driven and the grainand the grain deliveryconduit., will .be quicklyrcleared,` t Y j -These and other` objects and advantages of the invention will be clear from thefollowing description made in connection with VVthe' accompanying drawings, 1n wlnchhlike; reference characters refer to the same .partsl i tion of which 343 of Fig. 1.

throughoutv the different views', and in Fig. 1 is a plan view of the'device, a poris shownV in. section;

Fig.A 2 is a central vertical section through the fan chamber and said conduit; and Fig.:3 is a sectional view taken on theline Referring-to the drawings, the device is shown as mounted upon a frame member consisting of longitudinally spaced timbers l and transversely extending spaced timbers 2. A fan orblower. 3 isfcarriedn on a vshaft tending conduit cleanand exact descrip- -1' Vedge offsaid' iioor:H

together;

i of said conduit ,cured to l and Y cured to the-member yoted to adjacent frame member 4 and disposed in fa fan casing-l5..

has'lthe usual eye o r'V an l Inlet Vopeningozand agdelivevry conduit '(3v The yfan casing 5 l 'Specification of Letters Patent. Pai-dented `Ap 4, 'l

is connected to the lower portion thereof" l and .has an upwardly extending portion'5`at Vits endv communicating with va've'rtical-ly eX- A 7. A grain 'chamber-Sis" disposedover the conduitG adjacent thev fan casing. and this chamber isshownia's Ahav-' l inga downwardly inclined 'floor 'SalThisf y Hoor. terminates shortQf the end wallwSbfof the grain chamber The floor' 8a ofthe as Vprovided with grainV fed-into the grain chamber to pass along-the entire widthof` the memberBzand I thus bel evenly-l 'fed into the" conduit? It Y Y will be noted that 'the edge of the Hoor memdistancebelow the l' ber 8a is disposed a slight top of the conduit 6 so that the cross section Acondnit` 10 leads from one end a funnel member 11 connected 'to the grain hopper and delivery conduit 12:`I` A conveyor 13 shown as of thecommon screw type 'is disposed inthe conduit 10 and sedriven by a shaft 14C se,f. v cured in suitable bearings 'and having-se-V .cured thereto `one of a'pair oi bevelecl'gears 15,'the other gear being mounted on a shaft i forming` a vfeed 'opening A Y from; the grain chamberV intothe 'condnit '6.

' grain chamber Y isVV shown f an inclined cleat or 'feed barQj-but has On'eoff its endsfadjacent the vThe bar 9 will Vcaused-he'v 116 extending? longitudinally of' the fanand atri'ght angles' tothe shaft 111;-2v The: shaftx 161 is disposed at one end in a bearingiixed' 90,2

to the memberV 1 andatits'otherzend in a sleeve 17 disposed miasnnilar bearing fseformed on one end with clutch-tectlifand a sliding clutch member-18 is splined totiie shaft 16 and adapted to have the teeth there on engage the teeth on the sleeve f1?.l "Acollar 19 is s ring is disposed between this-collar and t e clutch member V18,whichlspring tends to move said lclutch"memberinto ,engagenient.` The members 17; ando18 thujslform ai well ,known half clutch and a 'lever- 20 pivpinned to the shaft 16: 'and a v.coil

memberl is provided Y of the worm, a sliding sleeve 23 with a clutch fork adapted toA engage the en larged end of clutch member 18 to move and hold the same out of engagement with the sleeve 17. The sleeve 1T is provided at one end with a worm wheel gear adapted to mesh with and be driven by a worm gear 21 disposed on the shaft 4t which drives the fan 3L The shaft 4; is carried in suitable bearings disposed on the member' 1 and is driven by a belt passing overpulley 22 secured thereto, Adjacent the4 worm gear 21, a collar 24C is pinned to the shaft L tand at the other end is provided having an enlarged collar portion 23a at one end thereof, the end of which is adapted to be moved into engagement with the worm gear 21 and frictionally` drive the same by means to be later described, it beingxundenf` stood that the worm gear 21 is loose on the reduced portion 4a of the shaft a. The

j sleeve 23 is splined to the shaft f4@ and is journaled in a bearing 25 secured to the member this bearing and a collar- 26 is disposed thereon, the reduced hub portion of which bears against the sleeve 23. Outward of the collar 26, a governor bracket 27 is secured to the shaft 4? and ai pair of levers 28 having at their ends weights 29,V are pivotedfat the inner end of this bracket. The outerends of the levers 28` are connected` tov coiled springs 30 which, at their inner ends are connected to a collar 31 sliding on the shaft 4a.

An opening 32 is provided in the side of the conduit 6 substantially in alinement with the feed opening thereinto and a cover plate 33 r is provided for the opening secured to the conduit by spaced cap screws. The purpose of this opening is to permit the removalV of any large foreign matter which might nd its way into the feeding opening or conduit and thus obstruct the same.

The operation of the device is as follows. Power being supplied to the pulley 22, the 'n shaft 4 and fan 3 will be rotated. lhen the speed of the fan and shaft 4 reaches a certain point', the governor weights 29 will be thrown. outwardly and the levers 28 will bear at their bent portions against the collar 26 which will be moved longitudinally on shaft a and will in lturn move the sleeve The Y enlarged portion 23a of this sleeve will then press against the worm gear 21 and frictionally. drive the same. The clutch members 17 and 18 being permitted to engage, the shaft 14 will be driven through the beveled gears 15 and conveyor 13 applied to deliver grain -into the grain chamber 8. TheV grain in this chamber will move down over the floor 8a and be evenly drawn into the con-V duit 6 by the suction'of the current of air passing therethrough and upwardly into conduit 7. Thegrain will thus be fed into the latter conduit and blown' or Vdelivered to Acapacity of the blower.` l. The shaft 4s"- proyects beyond fan is reduced, the weights 29 of the governor will again be drawn inwardlyby springs and the pressure of sleeve 23 against the worm gear 21 will be relieved. This will result in the stopping of conveyor 13' so that no more grain 'will be fed into the chamber 8 or into the conduit 6'. When the fan speed again increases the worm and conveyor will again be driven or driven at in` creased speed. Vhen the governor has been properly.l adjusted the device will operate continuously without attention and the supply of grainv thereto willy be accuratelyfregulated by the governor and the friction driving means for thevcon'veyor' so that no clogging or "choking ofgrain will o`c-` cur. T he gears '15 will, of course, lbe selected of the right ratio to maintain the speed` of the feeding conveyor 13 sufficiently high to supply an amount of Orain close 'to the ff it be desired at'y any time tol quickly disconnect the conveyor" 13 the same Vcan be done by operatingthe handle 20. It must benoted that the grain is not fed into the conduit 6 by the conveyor 13 but moves into said conduit from the lfloor 8a by gravity greatly assisted bytheA effect of the air current. 'The drawing of the grain into the delivery conduit by the air is due to the downwardly inclined floor 8a which contracts the conduit 6 adjacent the feed opening. By having the floor so downwardly inclined, all tendency ofthe air/to back up andrescape through the conveyor conduit is avoided.

It will, of course, be understood that vay,

rious changes may be made in the form, de-V tails and' arrangement of the device without` departing from the scope of applicants invention, which generally stated, consists in the matter shown and described and set forthV in the appended claims.

yThat is claimed is:

1. A grain blower havingin combination a blower fan, a fan casing enclosing the same having a delivery conduit extending, from y the lower portion thereof, a grain chamber disposed over said conduit and having an opening communicating therewith, the "bottom of said grain chamber sloping downwardly into said conduit and forming thev top wall thereof, the edge of vsaid bottom forming the edge of the opening into the conduit nearest the fan, said edge being disposed in a plane below the plane of the top of the conduit beyond said chamber, a con- A veyor for delivering the grain across said bottom and an inclined delivery cleat supported on the upper side of said bottom.l

2. A grain blower having in' combination a fan and fan shaft,a fan casing inclosing.. the fan and a grain delivery conduit eX- tending therefrom, a grain chamber disposed over said conduit, said conduit having an openingoommuncating with said chamber, a conveyor for movlng gram into said chamber and into the top of sald conduit, a governor on said fan shaft, a worm gear securedto said fan shaft, aworm Wheel gear engaged thereby and carried bye shaft geared to said conveyorv and a sleeve `slid- 

